The business behind the show

The Morning Fix: 'Apes' on top. Time Warner Cable has Insight. Fight for CMAs.

August 15, 2011 | 7:15
am

After the coffee. Before thanking the crows for stopping me from oversleeping today.

The Skinny: Are you as tired as I am of those "breaking news" email alerts that are seldom either? Be grateful I don't do that for the Morning Fix. Today's headlines include the continued domination of "Rise of the Planet Apes" at the box office, Time Warner Cable's big deal and the demise of Disney's attempt to make a "Lone Ranger" movie.

"Apes" rise again. "Rise of the Planet Apes" finished on top of the box office for the second weekend in a row, making $27.5 million. "The Help" also cleaned up at the box office (sorry, couldn't resist), taking in $25.5 million. Among other new releases, 3-D horror flick "Final Destination 5" took in more than $18 million, while "30 Minutes or Less" scrambled for $13 million. Lastly, the "Glee" 3-D concert movie didn't have a whole lot to sing about, making only $5.7 million. Somebody got a slushee tossed in their face! Box office analysis from the Los Angeles Times and Movie City News.

The big get bigger. Time Warner Cable, already the nation's second largest cable operator behind Comcast Corp., has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Insight Communications for north of $3 billion. Insight has about 750,000 subscribers primarily in the midwest. Details from Bloomberg.

Hi-yo, Silver! Away! Disney has pulled the plug on its plans to make a movie version of the TV classic "The Lone Ranger." Apparently the budget for the movie, which was from Jerry Bruckheimer and was to star Johnny Depp, was more than $250 million and Disney wanted to bring it down. My question is how does a movie about a guy who rode a horse around the Wild West end up costing that much? Come on. Details from Deadline Hollywood.

Oh, is that all? Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. filed its annual report and warned that the ongoing probe into phone hacking at the company's now-shuttered British tabloid News of the World "could damage our reputation and might impair our ability to conduct our business.” More on the report from the Hollywood Reporter.

Get out your checkbook. ABC, the home of the Country Music Awards for the last several years, is facing competition to hold on to the show from CBS and NBC. Award shows have become big-ticket items for broadcast networks lately and are generally seen as reliable ratings. The latest from Vulture.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: AMC and Sony reached a new deal for final episodes of "Breaking Bad." Relativity Media is headed into China. Hope the Chinese can accommodate Ryan Kavanaugh's helicopter.